Tap-Tap-Tap. Hello? Are you still there?

I took a deep breath and swallowed easily. What a lovely feeling! I couldn’t imagine how long it had been since I had been swallowing so easily but I had a feeling it had been quite a while. I sat up and noticed my husband dozing in the chair beside my hospital bed and love for him filled me up until it forced some tears out of my eyes. I wondered how long he had been sitting there while I was lying in bed.

I didn’t find out until much later that he had been with me the entire time I had spent in that bed and in the hospital. He had called the front desk at the hotel when I passed out, drove to the hospital after loading up the truck with all our stuff, waited while they worked on me, then spent the next few months waiting for me to recover. Days, weeks, months, he waited patiently for me to finally wake up, remember where I was and what was going on, and then gingerly took me home after I finally remembered everything up to the point where I passed out.

I was shocked that so much time had passed – 5 months had slipped by in the blink of an eye – and I had lost a ton of weight. Not the best way to lose weight though. I was down to what I had weighed right before I got pregnant and that was years ago! I didn’t remember anything about the time I was out of it. Who had come to see me, getting up out of bed to walk and get exercise, every little thing that happened every day.

I looked at the pictures Tom had taken and had no memory of any of those events. My wonderful family, my children, and friends had been to vist numerous times, brought me presents, stayed to visit and talk, and then returned to visit again and again. I had no memory of any of their visits but I appreciate every one. How could I not?

They actually loved me and appreciated me so much that they came to the hospital again and again while I was in there to let me know how much they appreciated me and were waiting for me to get better and come home. Once I was actually home and comfortable, they came to visit, to bring me treats, to talk and visit, and to just enjoy being together. It was the best part of coming home.